Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention simultaneously with the present application:
The disclosure; of these co-pending applications are incorporated herein by cross-reference.
This invention relates to the fabrication of devices incorporating microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). More particularly, the invention relates to a method of fabricating a MEMS device using at least one UV curable tape. For the sake of brevity, such a device shall be referred to below as a MEMS device and the part of the device comprising the microelectromechanical system shall be referred to as a MEMS layer.
According to the invention, there is provided a method of fabricating MEMS devices, the method including the steps of:
providing a substrate with a MEMS layer arranged on one side of the substrate;
applying a further layer to said one side of the substrate;
performing at least one operation on the substrate from a side of the substrate opposed to the side having the MEMS layer;
applying a holding means to said opposed side of the substrate;
performing at least one operation on the further layer to define individual chips, each chip being composed of a part of the substrate, at least one part of the MEMS layer and a part of the further layer; and
causing the individual chips to be released from the holding means for removal from the holding means.
The operations performed on the substrate may include separating the substrate into discrete parts, each part carrying said at least one MEMS part.
Similarly, the operations performed on the further layer may include separating the further layer into discrete parts, one part associated with each part of the substrate.
The method may include performing the operations on the further layer after application of the holding means to the substrate.
Preferably, the method includes bonding the holding means to the substrate. Optionally, a handling means may be applied to the holding means. The handling means may impart rigidity to the holding means and may facilitate manipulation of a laminate, the laminate comprising the substrate, the MEMS layer and the further layer.
The holding means may be bonded to the layer by means of an adhesive which is curable by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light. By xe2x80x9ccurablexe2x80x9d is meant that the adhesive loses its adhesive properties when exposed to UV light. Thus, the method may include exposing localised regions of the holding means to UV light to release one chip at a time from the holding means to enable each chip to be removed individually from the holding means. It will be appreciated that the handling means is transparent to UV light so that UV light is transmitted through the handling means to cure the adhesive of the holding means.
The handling means may be in the form of a glass, quartz, alumina or equivalent wafer.
The method may finally include removing each chip from the holding means by a transporting means.